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Pakistan Blocks U.N. Aid To Afghan Refugees
WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - United Nations officials in Pakistan have stated that a growing numbers of Afghan refugees needlessly died due to relief supplies not reaching the camps.
Pakistan, fearing to have to support Afghan refugees after international aid dries up, has refused to allow the U.N. to help more refugees arriving in northwest Pakistan.
At least 20 refugees have died in recent days and U.N. officials have warned that the death toll may climb higher as it has been unable to distribute food and blankets that could possibly help keep them alive.
Remaining in political limbo, around 80,000 Afghan refugees remain stuck in dirty and congested camps, with no water and sanitation.
Yussef Hassan, spokesman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Pakistan, said, "the tragedy of the situation is that people are dying every day and they don't need to because we have the supplies."
Hassan also said that the death toll may be higher than officials records show because Afghans refugees bury their dead immediately according to Islamic religion.
He added that the refugees' desperation would make a fair distribution of aid almost impossible, even if $4 million in U.N. relief for new refugees gets through.
As the U.N. warned that growing numbers of refugees might perish, the government of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province announced that it may have to use force to evict some 100,000 refugees if they refuse to leave the country by July 15th.
Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, secretary of home and tribal affairs in Northwest Pakistan said, "There are several camps where they may go. They may also go back to Afghanistan, but we want the land back."
By taking mountain passes into the country, many Afghan refugees, running from the country's worst drought in 30 years, as well as 21 years of civil war, have been able to dodge Pakistani border controls.
Pakistani officials, registering and transferring refugees arriving in the country over the past five months from Jalozai to other established camps, announced in January that the country could no longer take any more refugees.
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